Can I Use Locally Found Driftwood

[pezrock]

I live in upstate New York and was wondering if I can use the wood I find in the woods in my tank? I was also wondering if I can use the local rocks I find. If I can, is there anything I should avoid, or anything I should do for preperation before submerging.

[vanscheck]

you can use them i guess...just boil the wood to remove any ''germs'' and so it will ''bleed out'', it will make your water brown...and submerge in a bucket first and observe it until it sinks on its own and no coloration is seen...as for the rocks i use any i can find

[pezrock]

Thanks, does anyone else have any experience with local wood, such as maple, or oak?

[bsnyder921]

As far as rocks go, I'd strongly suggest boiling them for at least 10 minutes before putting them in your tank. If they are too big to fit in your largest kitchen pot, try boiling one end at a time (while the other end is sticking out of the pot). Remember that the rock will remain hot for a while after boiling, so let it cool before you put it in your tank.

Wood can be more complicated. Wood that grows out of the water can harbor eggs of insects and pests for a long, long time. And although I'm not an expert on underwater wood as a habitat, I would guess that many organisms can continue to live in wood that has been submerged. Therefore, I would highly, highly suggest that either 1- you boil your wood for a good, long time!, or 2- just use the wood found in your aquarium store. Wood from your aquarium shop may be a more expensive option, but at least you won't have to worry about insects or other living organisms (including bacterias or fungi) that could end up in your tank.

Concerning using maple/oak - keep in mind that maple and oak trees are deciduous trees and do not grow in tropical areas! Using them in your tank will probably look unnatural, and may cause problems (sap from maple trees, etc).

[mikeb210]

I've done this in my 125 now for over a year and I've had minimal problems. For the first six months or so, the wood grows a fuzzy looking mold that is harmless to fish. Many fish will pick at it and eat it. I didn't boil mine as it was much too large, but I sandblasted the outside to remove as much loose, rotted parts as possible.

[CHUNTC]

For rocks, I wash mine with disinfectant first then boil it for 10 minutes or so and take the pot out as the rock is hot and pour the rock and the water out, then cool it down and reboil it again. I boiled it twice on the save side. many will disagree with me. Just cannot afford to have germs and snail eggs in it. Welcome to this site anyway!

[Jur4ik]

rocks - yes
wood - no

[addo]

Originally Posted by Jur4ik

rocks - yes
wood - no

My tanks disagree

Rocks-yes.

Wood-as long as its not confier or soft wood.

[Jur4ik]

nothing is impossible, I too used grape vine with success in one of my tanks.
but:

Originally Posted by addo

..as long as...

in my opinion the risk to kill fish is too high

[addo]

Originally Posted by Jur4ik

nothing is impossible, I too used grape vine with success in one of my tanks.
but:


in my opinion the risk to kill fish is too high

May bee I'm a bit of a dare devil then, lol

Btw, it's really responsible of you to worry about your fish so dont take me disagreeing whith you as criticism.

[CHUNTC]

Originally Posted by addo

My tanks disagree

Rocks-yes.

Wood-as long as its not confier or soft wood.

Interesting! How do you identify confier or soft wood? Please enlighten us! You must be a wood expert, but do share with us your knowledge.

[addo]

lol, I'm no expert.

Conifer: conifer - Google-sökning

Soft wood, would just be any wood that is soft enough to decay really fast when you put it in your tank.

Oh and of course you shouldn't ad poisonous wood to your tank.

[CHUNTC]

Originally Posted by addo

lol, I'm no expert.

Conifer: conifer - Google-sökning

Soft wood, would just be any wood that is soft enough to decay really fast when you put it in your tank.

Oh and of course you shouldn't ad poisonous wood to your tank.

Addo,

Point taken and understood. How do we identify poisonous wood? Obviously non of us would knowingly put poisonous wood into an aquarium.

[addo]

Originally Posted by CHUNTC

Addo,

Point taken and understood. How do we identify poisonous wood? Obviously non of us would knowingly put poisonous wood into an aquarium.

Well if you cant ask ask someone, i would stick to wood from threes with eatable fruit.

[Jur4ik]

Originally Posted by CHUNTC

Addo,

Point taken and understood. How do we identify poisonous wood? Obviously non of us would knowingly put poisonous wood into an aquarium.

^^

this is why I say better not to use wood picked outside...

addo,
no problem mate You never know what bacteria is on the wood and some fellows keep expansive L catfish or discus in their tanks having no idea about risks.

thread starter lives in new york, they have beautiful manzanita wood in us for very little money.
http://www.manzanita.com/

[addo]

Originally Posted by Jur4ik

^^

addo,
no problem mate You never know what bacteria is on the wood and some fellows keep expansive L catfish or discus in their tanks having no idea about risks.

Of course you should always play things safe! Every time you're uncertain if its safe to put something in the tank then dont put it in the tank lol.

Since this is an international forum i don't know specifically witch types of wood are safe to use (exept for the ones in Scandinavia), so you should check with locals if you want to bee sure.

But there are some general rules you should follow:
Don't ad poisunus would to your tank (ofc. lol), so check with some one who knows which types can be used. But in general wood from fruit threes are not poisonous.
When new wood is added it usually causes a bacterial bloom (looks like slime) witch consumes oxygen, so don't ad more wood at one time than your system can handle.
Only use hard wood that wont decay to fast. Ask someone who knows.
If you use wood found in water then cook it to remove any parasites.
Remove any soft decaying parts of the wood.
Fresh wood or old wood found on dry land don't contain anything that can infect your fish so you only need to wash it, it generally causes a bigger bacterial bloom than old wood found in water though.
Always watch your tank carefully after adding wood, if you notice something strange then remove the wood and do a water change! (use common sense!)

[Bootin]

If your bacteria-mass can take the decay-level (as said), -you can put the pieces in a tank with very high salinity for a week or two before using them. I´ve tried it app. 10 times and it have went out very well. I used primarily drowned oak-pieces.

[Carolina]

For me the main problem with gathering wood from outside is that it probably has toxins in it since I live near some factories.

Have read that trees that have sap (pine, cedar, beech, maple, sycamore) have high contents of Phenols and are toxic to most life forms in some respect.

[pezrock]

You have all been very helpful. Our build date is in two weeks and we found some great rocks. We are still undecided on the wood. I'm going to look into the manzanita wood and maybe some fallen oak. Does anyone know any cheap places to buy nice wood. The reason I ask is because the pet stores by me have outrageous prices for this stuff.

[pezrock]

After doing lots of research I took the advice you guys provided and bought the wood off manzanita.com. Cheap and real helpful. Thanks again.